Ikra'vi
by quirky21
Summary: When the Avatar Program wasn't the only one RDA had. Gina, another pilot who opted into the program. Her choices save the life of Trudy Chacon. Short and possibly sweet. Rated M for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

A/N - Finish my other fanfics? I try, but this is what happens when you do 'research' on your favorite celebrity...

Anyway. Avatar fic written in a fairly choppy manner, following an OC. This started out non-romantic, but yea. It's complete and short, only 4 chapters, and written in less than a week. Not my best work, I'll admit it. But I liked writing it. *sticks out tongue and flounces away*

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_**Realities**_

Flying, any way she could do it, that was how Gina spent her life. When she was a kid, she'd found an old para-sailing rig that she patched up, jumped off the nearest cliff with, and had a massive argument with her parents about when she got out of the hospital. If it could be jumped off or out of, she'd done it. From jumping out of aircraft to the north face of Mount Everest, she risked her life to experience the adrenaline rush and temporary freedom of flight.

After one too many run-ins with the authorities, she was given the choice of serving her country in its air force or spending the next twenty years of her life repairing aircraft while literally chained to the ground. It was an easy choice. Being a pilot dodging enemy fire in rough bush was an entirely different kind of awesome.

But being under the thumb of the chain of command chafed almost as bad as being grounded. Every other week she was being written up for insubordination, dangerous aerial stunts, or some combination thereof. Her scientist parents died of some flu pandemic on the lunar space station they were developing interstellar life-support systems at. When her tour was over, she accepted the job offer from RDA. It was a surprise to find an RDA representative waiting for her with a private transport immediately after signing the discharge paperwork. Piloting Samson aircraft in the most hostile place in the known galaxy sounded the next logical step in her hunt for adrenaline rushes.

They took blood and tissue samples, her palm scans and signature and gave her an advance to get her affairs in order. One week later, she closed her eyes in the cryo chamber.

* * *

"Ginaya Trakova." Gina reported to a woman in a flight suit, clearly waiting for her.

"Trudy Chacon." The senior pilot with six years experience on Pandora shook her hand, then gestured over her shoulder. "That's my bird. She's what we'll be training you in, try to keep you from dying on this moon."

There were dents in the thing. Long tears that were probably claw marks from a Pandoran monster were being sealed over by a maintenance crew. A tiger was painted on the side of the cockpit.

"We fly the science sorties." Chacon continued.

Gina nodded, her attention already lost. A Samson model aircraft was a workhorse, designed to haul cargo and personnel. The bucket was a point A to point B utility bore. It would never win any speed or stealth competitions. But it could fly almost anywhere, under any conditions, and was about the most durable aircraft ever flown. She was in love.

Fingers snapped in front of her face. Chacon grinned at her. "I know that look."

Gina pulled at her sweaty clothes. "What look?"

"That look every pilot gets when she's imagining doing the thing she loves most." Hand on hip, Chacon turned to face the squat bird. "Flying."

Her own smile blossomed.

* * *

The Na'vi were enormous. Gina knew that. Everyone knew that. It didn't stop her from staring up at the blue and slightly feline avatar of Dr. Grace Augustine the first time they met.

"Hello? Is there anything in there?" The doctor thumped Gina's head and huffed. "We're on a schedule." She turned to Chacon, ignoring Gina's snarl. "Where did Selfridge find this one, the recycling pits?"

"Pilot Trakova hasn't seen one of you up close yet." Chacon replied.

"Trakova?" Augustine turned back to Gina, interest in her eyes. "As in the Trakova bio-cyclers? You can't possibly be the brains behind those."

"My parents," was the irritated response.

"Ah." The interest sputtered out. "Shame they didn't pass their brilliance on."

"They did, but my sisters died before they could shine." Gina snapped. "My parents didn't spawn any more before the Egin Flu killed them too."

Augustine stiffened and glanced back. Gina silently wished that the woman would give her an excuse to find out what colors Na'vi bruised. The doctor only gave her a thorough looking over before climbing into the Samson. "Come on, Chacon. I don't have all day."

Chacon squeezed her shoulder. "The doc hates anyone who isn't scientist or Na'vi. Try not to take it personally."

* * *

When Colonel Quaritch gave his little speech about how everything on Pandora would love to eat her eyeballs for candy, he wasn't kidding. Every living thing on the forest moon defied the human infestation. Banshees, bat-like reptiles as brightly colored as the flora, regularly swooped down from the skies, giant blue warriors astride them.

An arrow punched through the window as easily as a bullet. Gina scrambled for emergency breathing mask, her eyes glued to the beasts. Fresh air, tainted with the stench of rubber blew across her face. Chacon was scrambling to evade further attack and the door gunners were unloading into the flight of warriors. "Do you think a human could ever do that, ride a banshee?"

Chacon spared her a quick, disbelieving look and pulled her own mask on. Dr. Augustine started laughing. "Not in your life, kid."

In the chow hall, the doc was regaling the story about the rookie pilot who believed in fairy tales. Gina was jabbed in the ribs by Chacon. "Pandora attracts only the craziest of idiots in the galaxy."

"After meeting you, I believe it," was the grumbled retort.

Chacon laughed, and Gina wanted to ask what had driven the laid-back pilot there. She ate her dinner instead.

* * *

One time, she even saw an enormous orange and red banshee. It was big enough to eat her, Chacon, and their entire compliment of science pukes for lunch.

"The Omaticaya call it toruk, last shadow." Dr. Augustine commented. Gina was flying solo by then, and it was Chacon's off day. "Don't ever end up underneath it."

Gina nodded and kept a careful eye on her scanners as she maneuvered them away from the great beast's vicinity.

* * *

Gina was in the middle of a really terrible book when Chacon slapped her on the shoulder and told her to come watch the sun set with her. The sharply flat tone she used had Gina powering down her reader and hopping up to follow without hesitation.

"Ever miss it?" Chacon took a swig from the canteen in her hand. It stank of bitter alcohol.

"I miss sunsets all the time." Gina slowly sat down on the rooftop.

"Earth."

From blues to yellows and oranges, the sky was morphing. Pandoran sunsets were exactly like a hundred other terran sunsets she had watched. If she ignored the giant gas planet that was always visible in the sky. And the other moons that danced around. "Not really."

Chacon looked at her. "Why not?"

"No one there worth missing. Too many sad memories."

"I don't believe a woman as attractive and friendly as you didn't have friends on every continent."

A snort puffed out of Gina. She chuckled, but it faded quickly into melancholy. "When you say it that way, I suppose there are a couple people I wouldn't mind sharing beers with again." Quite a few, if she was being honest. It wasn't enough though. Not nearly enough to make her want to be so close to the places where loved ones had died. Soldiers she had served with. Friends she'd adventured with. The scales were too heavy with sadness. People died regularly on Pandora, yet it was different. Here, she hadn't made any friends, didn't plan to. She just wanted to fly and die.

"I have a kid that turns seventeen today."

"What?!" Gina started. She knew for a fact that Chacon was only twenty-seven. She would have had to pop that kid out as soon as she hit puberty.

"Cryo sleep makes age relative, remember?" Chacon replied.

Questions burned at Gina's tongue. The canteen was offered, and she drank gratefully. She coughed. "That shit is raw!"

"Home brew."

Reds and oranges set the sky on fire. They watched that fire be put out by the approaching violets and indigos. It was dark for a few seconds before the light of the gas giant turned the sky into blues again. Outside the perimeter fences, Gina could see the natural glows of Pandoran life.

The canteen was passed between them until Chacon's head dropped to Gina's shoulder. "I wasn't ready for a kid, and his dad was a soldier on temporary leave. The guy left me some money and the decision and shipped out after a week."

Gina looked at the mess of black hair, fiddled with her hands.

"I carried him to term, went through the trouble of giving birth and nursing him for a few weeks, then gave him to this wealthy tech-developer who couldn't have kids of her own. I wasn't sure why I did it until I saw her hold him." Chacon shifted a little, drank, draped more of herself on Gina. "When I realized I wanted him back," she trailed off.

Gina wrapped her arm around Chacon and squeezed.

"The adoption terms were that I could never see him unless he asked for a meeting. He'd have to be old enough to understand and make that decision." Chacon breathed. "He figured out he was adopted when he was ten, wanted to meet me."

Chacon didn't say anything else. Curiosity and worry eventually drove Gina to ask, "What happened?"

"We had lunch together, walked through a park. When we got back to his adoptive mom, who had waited at the edge of the park, he told me it was nice to meet me, thanked me for giving him life, and said he didn't want to have more than one mom. He said goodbye and left. I signed up with RDA a couple months later."

Words tumbled about, made Gina's mouth dry. "I don't know what to say."

"Don't have to say anything. Just," Chacon actually chuckled. "Keep hugging me, Trakova."

"Gina." It was automatic, spitting out her informal name like that. Being called Trakova after having such an intimate conversation was too many shades of wrong. "Call me Gina."

Dark eyes lifted from her shoulder to look at her. "Only if you call me Trudy."

The side of her mouth lifted, and she kissed Trudy's forehead. "Deal."

* * *

"Miss Trakova."

Gina looked up from her breakfast to see a man she didn't recognize. "Who's asking?"

"I'm head of a science department that you're being offered a new job in."

Eyes narrowing, she set down her spoon. "What kind of the job?"

He smiled enigmatically. "The kind that you have to accept before you're cleared to know what it is."

"Why in the stars would I do that?"

"Because you love to fly, and you will never find an opportunity like this again."


	2. Choices Made

**Chapter 2**

_**Choices Made**_

The Avatar Program had been created to better study Pandora and its life. Later, it was used to get closer to the Na'vi, the indigenous humanoids who didn't like RDA digging up their forest for lifeless rock. It was hoped that with the human-Na'vi hybrid avatars, the scientists could create bonds and form understandings with, find a way to get the creatures to evacuate their home. RDA was willing to spend a few million for the possibility of profitable research and good press. Shareholders didn't like the idea of genocide. While they drained a closer site of its unobtanium, they allowed the scientists to muck about and play with the locals.

And RDA had some other scientists toy with the possible military applications of the Avatar Program. Being able to harness the dangerous creatures of Pandora for use on the moon or another alien world was too juicy of an idea to leave to Grace Augustine and her anti-military ideology. That was how her brainchild gained sister programs that she knew nothing about.

* * *

Blending the DNA of Na'vi and banshees, what the Na'vi called ikran... someone had wanted to build a flying soldier. The scientists called the new avatars ikra'vi. The drivers didn't care what they called them or what they were intended for as long as they could fly.

* * *

Of all the weird alien-ness of the ikra'vi, the hardest to get used to was the tail. Not the massive body, the wings, the brain cord that could connect to other creatures or even plants. Nope. It was the swishy, twitchy tail attached to the end of her spine and poked out from over her butt. She even liked the mottled purples and reds that decorated her skin. The splashes of blue that lined her wings. Her yellow-green eyes.

It was a hodgepodge of three different species, yet its feline features still looked like her and the leathery wings seemed perfectly natural. The blending of the three was brilliant. As with the original avatars, it was mostly a Na'vi/human hybrid, but with wings blended onto the torso and upper thighs, tail ended in a fan, and feet curled into talons.

Gina held up her hands and wiggled the fingers. She grinned, showing all her sharp teeth at the tech observing her transition. He blinked and swallowed.

"Trakova, you haven't been cleared yet for..."

She turned and ran, wings pumping, and leapt into the sky. Below her, the man sighed, "flight tests."

* * *

Jake Sully, a crippled, former marine, made waves in the camp when he arrived and took over his dead twin's spot as an avatar driver. Trudy told Gina about him and the other new guy, a PhD, Norm Something. She thought Jake had serious balls to do what he did. Dr. Augustine hated him, naturally and...

"I won't be flying science sorties anymore." Gina interrupted quietly.

Trudy smiled "What? Finally gonna tell me what you've been up to the last few weeks? What's Quaritch have you doing? Escort patrol for the dozers?"

"No. Something else. I leave in the morning."

Trudy's mouth clicked shut. Tension hummed between the women. "You're not going to tell me are you?"

"I can't." Gina frowned, wishing she could tell her friend all about the classified project. It didn't make sense why she couldn't, especially not to Trudy, who had already been tapped for the project. There was an ikra'vi avatar with the experienced pilot's DNA. Only a couple more weeks were needed for the body to be mature enough for use.

Like Gina's, it had been grown back on Earth, the developers fully confident that the intended drivers would never turn down the job. What pilot wouldn't want to fly with wings of their own?

"You could've given me more warning." Trudy complained, not quite angry, but not friendly either. "For how long?"

"Sorry." Gina sighed. "They didn't give me a time frame."

"Why'd you accept it?"

Because she was good at running away. And better at flying. "You remember what you told me the first day we met?"

Trudy cocked her head.

"Look, I gotta go. See you around."

* * *

"That Chacon is too involved with Sully and Augustine. We can't risk allowing her into the project."

Gina halted mid-step and held her breath.

"You've read the woman's files?"

"She was kicked out of the Navy for insubordination, and she joined RDA to escape the fact that the kid she gave up for adoption didn't want her in its life. "

"The woman refused to obey an order to destroy a village full of unarmed civilians. She has a conscience and regrets. What about that is bad?"

"The part where we're being paid to find a way to eliminate the locals. We don't need a wet-nurse, we need killers."

She hurried down a different corridor. Running into whoever owned those voices would not end well for her, not with her crappy poker face. Back in her room, she flopped to the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Why would they spend all that money on an avatar that might never get used?"

* * *

The call of Eywa was overwhelming. Her protective instincts flared, all she could think about was protecting her home. Earth was a very long way away. She thought about the clean, nicely furnished apartments that her parents' grants and salaries had always afforded them. Her parents, her sisters. Dead. All of them. Family had been home. The voices in her head whispered about nests and trees and...

Gina shook her head, growling. She had no one that she loved anymore. No one she needed to protect. This savage moon wasn't home, could never truly be for an alien like herself. Gasping for air, she looked around at her fellow ikra'vi. Each of them looked lost, their eyes wide, wings tensed for flight, breaths too rapid. Gina liked Tamika well enough, would share meals and jokes with her, but wouldn't think twice about saying goodbye to her.

Alex, on the other hand, was her buddy, her wing-man. He caught her eye. Gina knew he would heed the call, fight for the natives. Around them, the jungle lit up with the noise of its creatures. The radio buzzed.

"Alright boy and girls, your debut moment has come. You've been ordered to join the assault on the savages. Colonel Quaritch will be expecting you."

Tamika grinned toothily. "It's about time. I can't wait to see how many of those flea-bitten monkeys I can kill." Her hand went to her radio, where her fingers would open the comm line and she would inform command about the counter-assault from the moon itself. Alex aimed his gun at her. It was so fast and so unexpected that Tamika's head exploded in a spray of blood before she even realized the danger.

While Gina stared at the dead body, Alex responded to the orders. "Aye, command." His gun was at low ready, pointing in Gina's direction. He stared at her. "We're on our way. Those monkeys won't know what hit 'em."

"Good hunting. Over and out."

Alex's hand went back down to his gun. The muzzle was kept pointed at the ground. "I'm going to help Eywa, Gina. You know what Selfridge is doing is wrong. Sully and Chacon knew it. That's why they went AWOL, joined the Na'vi."

Gina swallowed. "You know she's going to wake up in her unit and then start squawking."

"No. She won't. The disorientation and Pratt's interference will keep her confined until it doesn't matter anymore."

How many people had chosen to side with the natives? Gina asked herself.

"We're part of this world now, us ikra'vi. Choose a side or go back to Earth, Trakova." He took off into the sky, leaving Gina alone with her thoughts.

There wasn't anything on Earth for her. Dead family, estranged friends, empty places. Nothing to draw her back. Pandora did have a few reasons for her to stay. Alex. Her ikra'vi avatar and its beautiful wings. The handful of pilots she missed drinking with. Trudy Chacon.

* * *

That one Samson with Na'vi colors, shooting at Quaritch's Dragon... it was definitely Trudy. Gina gasped, seeing one of the engines spewing black clouds. When the assault class gunship launched a missile, she dove for it, redirected it into a mountain. She crashed against the windshield, cracking it and shattering the fine bones in her right hand. Her scream of pain was quickly lost in the noise of the battle as she slid off the Samson and banged into the smoking mountain.

A flaring explosion brought her back to her senses. More thick black smoke pulsed up from Trudy's bird as it swayed unsteadily in the air. "Trudy!"

Another missile was already en route, and Gina's scream didn't slow down or stop the thing before it impacted and completely took out the burning engine. Quaritch was probably smiling his righteous victory smirk, seeing the traitorous human about to die.

Gina launched herself back into the haze, aiming for the maimed aircraft, and barely caught hold of a side grip with her good hand. Bullets ripped through the air, shredded part of her left sail. She grit her teeth, tucked her wings in as tightly as possible, and held onto the wobbling Samson with everything she had. If she could get Trudy to put on a mask and jump, she could maybe get them both out of the battle alive. Her hand slipped. There was oil or blood smeared all over the side. She forced her sight from it to her friend.

Stunned, Trudy was staring at her as they spun out of control. Another missile blew past them by sheer luck. "Trudy! Get a mask on and evac!"

Somehow the pilot managed to right her Samson. Gina lost her grip and fell away.

"Trudy!" Smoke and fire seared the air. A sudden rain of ikran blood obscured her view of her friend's Samson. "No!"

When she found her wings and bolted through the smoke, she was too late. The aircraft was gone, its parts turned to shrapnel. She lost altitude choking up with tears. Her vision blurry, she floated down, useless as a dead ikran.

She blinked, unable to focus and realized she felt cold. "Must've lost too much blood," she muttered.

Stars shot her vision white when a big chunk of rock dropped off a mountain onto her head. With a gasp and jerk, she was back in her link unit. She was already yelling for the team to send her back in before the lid opened. Gun muzzles greeted her.

"Damn."


	3. Dizzy

**Chapter 3**

_**Dizzy**_

Being stuck in the brig was undoubtedly the most inhumane sentence she could imagine. The sharp white walls and bunks had her eyeballs screaming for entertainment. She spent a lot of time staring at her guard and the insides of her eyelids.

She'd risked everything she had left to fight, to protect the few people she trusted on Pandora. To protect Trudy, who was dead now. She knew nothing about Alex or anyone else. All she knew was that her guard was balding and had awful scars down his neck. After they tossed in Pratt, the tech who worked with the ikra'vi link units and Max, the tech from the original program, she knew a lot more. And had much more interesting things to look at.

RDA was losing to the combined forces of Pandora's native species and alien allies. Grace Augustine was dead, along with many others. The battle and surrender of RDA took less than two days. The prisoners were released and celebrated as heroes.

* * *

"What condition is your avatar in?" Max was asking.

Gina shrugged. "At the very least, one wing is damaged, a broken hand, and cuts and burns everywhere."

"The chances that it survived are astronomically low. I can't believe we're still getting a signal from it!" Pratt exclaimed. "Going in will probably be extremely painful, if not absolute torture. You sure you want to do this?"

"I have to." Gina replied. If there was a chance her avatar could be repaired, she would do whatever it took.

The techs exchanged hopeless shrugs and dropped the lid on her unit.

Pain from every inch of her avatar assaulted her. She cringed and slowly assessed whether moving was going to be an option. Sitting up hurt amazingly, but she could. Her head spun from the effort, and she tried to palm her forehead with her right hand. The hand wouldn't move. Dizzy, she struggled to focus on it.

When her head finally cleared, she saw that her hand was bound and immobilized. Upon further inspection, she discovered bandages on her damaged wing and around her middle. Blood had soaked through from her stomach. She didn't remember getting a wound there and wondered when that had happened. "Whoa. How the hell did..."

"You're awake!" Trudy was limping toward her. It was impossible, but there she was, every stubborn inch of her.

"You're alive." Gina whispered. "But I saw your Samson explode."

Trudy eased herself down next to Gina, adjusted her breather and scratched at some bandages of her own. Multiple places were covered, her clothes were scorched, her hair frazzled. The stench of smoke and burned meat clung to her. "I bailed right after you fell."

Gina peered about. They were in the Hallelujah Mountains still, yet nowhere near where the battle had taken place. Her gaze shot back to Trudy. "How?"

"Banshees. They plucked us both out of the sky and left us here." Trudy waved at the floating rock that was about the size of the dragon gunship.

"Eywa saved us."

Glittering eyes stared at Gina for several minutes. "You saved me. I would've gone up in smoke with my Samson if you hadn't tackled those missiles. Eywa just picked up the slack."

* * *

Gina unlinked only long enough to tell Max that Trudy was alive and where they were and hurry the hell up getting there. She dove back into her avatar, afraid that if she left Trudy alone too long, she might disappear. No amount of pain would get her to leave Trudy until help arrived.

* * *

After the battle and RDA's forces surrendered, the humans who had fought against the RDA were given the generous choice of leaving or staying. Really, it wasn't much of a choice. Back on Earth, there wouldn't be a friendly welcome for anyone who'd sided with the natives. That was if they even survived the journey. Cryo chambers did occasionally fail. Blaming technical failure on the battle would be easy enough. Naturally, the only ones on the spacecraft were those whose loyalty to RDA was unquestionable.

* * *

There were other avatars in storage. Plans were found on an encrypted database about using female avatars as organic amnio tanks. Growing an avatar in the more old-fashioned manner would cut expenses by half. After birth, the avatar would need to be placed into an amnio tank until full growth was achieved. But even with the aggressive growth hormones needed to replace the driver's time in cryo with a handful of weeks, the pros outweighed the cons. Or something like that. The technical science jargon was beyond her vocabulary and attention span.

It explained why they were willing to grow avatars that might never be used by a driver.

"So, Trudy. You going to try it out? It was made for you." Gina prodded her friend.

"Yea." Trudy reached with trembling fingers and touched the cool exterior of the tank, watching her avatar with rapt fascination.

* * *

Instructing Trudy in how to use her avatar was far more fun than the carefully restrained hit and miss method she and the other originals had been forced to endure. After a couple weeks, Trudy was able to launch herself from ground level or height and fly strong for a half hour. It was light years beyond what Gina could do at that stage of training. Her only weakness was landings. The woman simply had problems with the feet.

* * *

A couple weeks later, Gina took Trudy on an extended flight. Both wanted to get as far from Hell's Gate as they could, follow aerial paths they'd only taken by Samson. Late afternoon saw them looking for a place to relax, and they decided on one of the great trees that towered over the rest of the forest. Gina went down first, casually sinking her talons into the bark and looking up to watch her friend.

Trudy touched down delicately. Her first landing that she didn't trip up, and her smile erupted sunny and rich. Giddy and laughing, she pulled her friend into a crushing embrace. Gina couldn't help laughing and smiling just as warmly, caught up in Trudy's excitement. They separated breathlessly.

Long moments passed, the two of them staring into each other. Trudy's eyes flickered down and back to Gina's eyes. "Even your avatar is beautiful. Did you know that?"

Close to the trunk of the tree, a light cough interrupted any response a stunned Gina might have made. A pair of Na'vi were smiling at them. Nearby on higher branches were their two ikran.

"Jake, Neytiri!" Trudy withdrew from frozen Gina and stepped to the Omaticaya leaders. "It's great to see you guys."

The trio exchanged heartfelt greetings and smiles. Trudy started laughing. "This is too weird. I'm taller than you now."

"Barely," Jake scoffed at the scarce inch of difference.

Neytiri extended a hand and traced fingers along Trudy's wing. "You have become very strong in this body."

"It hasn't been easy." Trudy's huge grin dispelled any thought that she minded the effort. "My teacher is as merciless as you, Neytiri."

Jake chuckled. "It's do or die trying, is it?"

"Even Quaritch would've sweat under her brutal training."

Neytiri lifted her chin and brushed past the earth-born. She greeted Gina in English, "Ginaya Trakova, I see you."

Shy in front of the intimidating warrior whom she had only met once, Gina's cheeks flushed. Swallowing, she recalled the greeting in Na'vi, which everyone had taken to learning since the RDA was banished from Pandora. Neytiri was delighted by the garbled attempt and gently corrected the pronunciation. "What else do you know?"

Gina began to relax as she interacted with Neytiri, sharing what she knew of the woman's native tongue. Jake and Trudy kept the distance, catching up as good friends do. Engrossed in her own conversation, Gina didn't hear much of what they discussed, except one whispered comment from Jake that hit her like a ton of bricks.

"When did you realize you were falling for her?"

* * *

A few sunrises later, on a scheduled rest day, Gina flew off in a random direction at first light. Alone, she flew until she was tired. She found herself at the end of the land, the rolling waves of the sea stretching out along the horizon. Safely camouflaged by rock outcroppings, she watched the endless parade break along the rocky shore.

Living out her days on Pandora was a decision she had come to that morning. Her human body was almost atrophied from disuse and neglect. Every waking hour was spent in her avatar body, with its powerful wings and healing battle scars. Piloting aircraft would never measure up to flying by one's own force. When she had signed up with RDA, returning to Earth was never a consideration. She would ask for Eywa to transfer her consciousness by herself, but she needed help to get both of her bodies to the Tree of Souls.

Trudy would insist on being there. So would Alex and Jake and the rest of the Omaticaya probably. The decision was hers alone; she didn't need the approval or help of others to make it. She could honestly say that she could survive alone on Pandora and intended to help protect it when RDA returned some day. Eywa already knew that. The moon's spirit didn't need a hundred Na'vi chanting and singing to get the message.

A fish jumped out of the water, snapped up a flying creature, and slipped back into the water. Maybe she could do it alone. If she flew her avatar to the tree, unlinked, and piloted a Samson there with her human body... Gina leapt into the air and dove toward her new life.

* * *

As the Omaticaya clan had already chosen and moved to a new Hometree, Gina was able to land and tuck her avatar into a somewhat hidden corner without any Na'vi noticing. She unlinked and stumbled to her private quarters back on the base. Quickly enough, she selected the few personal items she wanted to keep and stuffed them into a holdall. For appearances, she ate a light meal with everyone else at lunchtime and realized that she would miss cheesecake.

The rest of it though, nope. She wouldn't miss the ghost town feel of the grey halls, the restrictive fences, the depressing labs. Alex passed her in the corridors. "When's the last time you took a shower, Gina? You smell like a viperwolf."

Grinning, she sniffed herself. "Probably as long as it's been for you."

Alex shrugged. "Probably. We still on for that race tomorrow? My trainee will kick your trainee's ass."

"You know Williams doesn't stand a chance, but we'll still be there to prove it." Gina shot back.

"Yea right." Waving, he swaggered away.

Back in her room, Gina caught sight of her mangy appearance in a mirror. She stared at it for a long time. One last hot shower wouldn't hurt. Soaping and grooming herself felt strange, alien. This wasn't her body anymore. Her body was taller, stronger, entirely different colors. Her body had wings and a tail and knees that bent the other way. She threw on clothes, slipped her light bag over a shoulder and made her way to the hangar and her old Samson.

"Determined expression, clean clothes _and_ body. Where you off to? Hot date?" Trudy's smiling voice called out to her.

Gina stiffened and swallowed before turning in Trudy's direction. They hadn't spoken much in the past week. "What if I do? I have a life outside of training you."

A shadow clouded the expression on Trudy, but she shook it off and regained her smile. "Of course you do. There's a few pairs of eyes around here who linger on you. Who is it?"

Gina shrugged. "Samson."

Trudy snorted, still suspicious. "What's wrong with your own wings?"

"I felt like a change." It was absolutely the truth, but not all of it and Trudy sensed that. She had always been able to read Gina well. Same as last time Gina had kept secrets from her, she was hurt, showing it in the stiffness of her body and sadness in the eyes. Not telling her was a struggle. Watching Trudy stand there made it seem like an overly selfish and foolish thing.

Maybe it was. Gina was even more determined to do it her way now. She hopped into the cockpit, stowed her bag, looked back. Trudy had crossed her arms over her chest. Despite the smile on her face, she was obviously not happy. A battle erupted inside Gina. One part of her wanted to jump out of the Samson and do whatever she could to make Trudy's smile real. The other wanted to run, or fly, far away from Trudy and whatever emotions she had about Gina.

She compromised. "We'll talk later, and I'll tell you all about it."

The tension fluffed out of Trudy, and her arms dropped. "Yea. Sounds good."

Gina nodded and waved goodbye. She calmed another internal battle by thinking she never said when they would talk. It was petty, but it kept her heart from exploding.

* * *

As out of the way as possible, she parked her Samson and hoofed it to the Tree of Souls. Dragging her heavy avatar out of its hiding spot had her sweating and huffing until she dropped beside it. She undressed and compared her human body to it for a long time. When neither fear nor worry besieged her, she lay down beside it and looked up at the tree.

"So, Eywa. I probably should have given more thought to how I would tell you when I was ready, but here I am." Nothing happened. "Here I am, naked and feeling like a complete idiot because this is really a huge flaw in my plan." Gina slapped a hand over her eyes.

"Ginaya Trakova." A Na'vi voice spoke into the breeze.

Gina shot up and saw Neytiri approaching from the shadows. "What are you doing here?"  
"Watching over your ikra'vi body and waiting for you to return." Neytiri replied. She stopped a yard away and squatted.

"Why?"

"I will be tsahik one day," was the enigmatic response.

Gina sighed.

Neytiri took up a comfortable sitting position. "Why would you try to do this alone?"

"I'm not Omaticaya." The tree's pink tendrils swayed in the light winds.

"There are many who care for you."

"This is my decision."

"It affects more than you, Ginaya." Neytiri said.

Gina nodded. "Yea. My human body is wasting a lot of energy having to be fed and hooked up to the link unit all the time. The others at Hell's Gate could be putting that energy to other uses."

"Have you spoken to any others of this decision? To Trudy?"

"Why would I need to ask her permission for this? It's my life we're talking about here." Gina spit out.

Neytiri swayed and blinked at her. "Jake spoke to myself and Trudy and Norm for many days before he made his decision to leave his human body. Why would you not inclu-"

"I am not mated to Trudy!" Gina cut her off, hot with emotion. "My friends will either still want to include me in their lives or not. This," she gestured at the withered form she was in. "This isn't me anymore. I can't stand the idea of living in this shell any longer. I've always lived to fly. It's how I plan to die someday, with the wind under my wings."

Some breaths went by, both of them staring at each other. "If you have nothing else to live for, why did you fight against the Sky People? Why fight against your own kind when you already had what you loved most? Why risk your wings? What was important enough for this?"

The surviving warriors all told stories of what had happened that day. Many had seen the ikra'vi join the fray, battle on Eywa's side. In fact, the tale of Gina diving in, pushing aside missiles to protect Trudy and defy Quaritch was a favorite among the children. Neytiri already knew the answer. She was pushing for Gina to acknowledge it, to admit that she valued Trudy's life more than her wings, maybe more than her own life.

"If she asked me to stay human," Gina studied her bony fingers, "I would do it for her. And I don't know how to handle that."

Neytiri nodded, her face solemn, and did not speak again. Gina closed her eyes and rested her head on the stone. She must have fallen asleep because she was having the weirdest dream. Dr. Augustine was reprimanding her for taking too long and acting too much on instinct instead of using what little brain she had. The doc had been dead for a long time, yet there she was, cigarette smoking in one hand, the other making sharp gestures in time with her scathing comments. Na'vi children skipped around them. Warriors cheered and sang haunting songs. Grace shoved her into her Samson and insisted she tell Jake and Trudy to take better care of themselves.

Then she woke up, stretched, and stared at the dead human beside her.

It was strange to be carrying her former body, the one she had grown up in and discarded like old shoes. A pocket of hot air carried her too high, and she spilled air from her wings to compensate. The cooling husk in her arms had become stiff and pale. She really didn't want to force anyone to look at it, but Neytiri had made a good point about people needing to see with their own eyes that Ginaya Trakova no longer existed as a human.

* * *

A few wing lengths away, Neytiri rode on her ikran. Honor escort. Jake was going to meet them at the compound. Gina assumed it was more of an excuse to visit than to support her. Still, she appreciated not having to face Trudy and the others alone.


	4. Big Thoughts

**Chapter 4**

_**Big Thoughts**_

Trudy advanced on Gina angrily, pointing a finger accusingly. "Ginaya Trakova! You left a Samson out there? Not only is it an eyesore, but it's a waste of good equipment!"

Gina backpedaled from the tiny, irate human. "I don't exactly fit in the cockpit anymore."

"Fine." Trudy huffed. "Put that husk down and take me out there so I can clean up your mess."

"But, I'm tired." She resisted. Hauling a body all that way was hard work. Extra weight hadn't been in her training much. Trudy weighed more than her old self. Around them were a few snickers and whispered comments. Gina's ears flattened to her skull. "It can wait a while."

"Now." An edge was in the woman's voice. There'd be all sort of trouble for Gina if she refused, but she had gotten used to being Trudy's instructor and ordering _her_ around. Gina bared her teeth, hissed. Her emotions were too high, her private defenses shaky. She couldn't be put into an intimate closeness with Trudy for that long. It was too much, and she crouched aggressively, tail whipping, growling.

Trudy actually took a step back, eyes wide, and her hands lifted slightly, defensively. Time stopped. Gina's tail stilled, her growls died in her throat. Then Neytiri was between them, putting a hand on Gina's shoulder.

"Ginaya." Her voice was calm and understanding. "Now is a good time to learn."

Their eyes met, and Gina's anger wilted completely. "Maybe it is." She lifted the husk. "Will you take care of this?"

"I will watch over it until you return." Neytiri accepted the body and stepped away, giving Gina room to kneel and speak to Trudy. "I'm sorry, Trudy. I could use your help getting the old bird home."

"Fine. But you owe me for this." Trudy remarked. Casually, she approached and threw an arm around Gina's neck. It wasn't until she was a hands breadth away that Gina realized the other woman was nervous.

"Welcome to Air Pandora. Please make sure your safety harness is securely fastened and in case of water landing, use the flotation device located under your seat." Gina smiled at her passenger.

Trudy laughed away her tension and laced her fingers together. "Who said you could use my jokes?"

Gina carefully lifted the human, making sure the exopack and breather wouldn't be jostled and pretended that the audience staring at them didn't exist. She opened her wings and took them away from Hell's Gate. The Hallelujah Mountains were floating in front of them when Gina's endurance reached its limit.

"I have to land before I drop you." She admitted as she dropped altitude, aiming for a the boughs of a large tree.

"Why haven't we talked lately?" Trudy asked after they landed.

"I heard Jake talking to you that day."

Trudy sat down. "The part where we discussed how in love with you I am."

Gina nodded.

"I'm sorry. I tried everything I could to not, knew I'd never have a chance with you, especially with Alex around. Th-"

Hard laughter from Gina cut her off. "Me and Alex? You think we're together?"

"You aren't?" Trudy frowned at her.

More laughter answered her. "I'm not Alex's type."

Face scrunched, Trudy asked, "But you're always flirting with each other, always together. How can you not be his type?"

Being seen as flirting with Alex was news to Gina. "He likes docile women, not independent ones like me." She scratched at her skull. "Didn't know people thought that about us."

"Even Norm thought you two were a thing." Trudy muttered.

"He's been whining about his avatar's shoulder not healing properly. When has he had time to notice other people?"

"Norm is having trouble letting people think of him as a hero. Whining is his defense mechanism." Trudy fiddled with her breather's tubing. "Now that you're ikra'vi full time, what are your plans? Will you come back to Hell's Gate?"

"I'm not human anymore. Hell's Gate is a human place."

Trudy waved that away. "That kind of stopped mattering when we didn't side with Selfridge."

Gina rubbed her arms. Above her were the kind of leaves that captured water, and she was thirsty. "I thought about asking Jake to allow me to train to be a warrior."

"Wouldn't it be redundant to make tsaheylu with an ikran?"

Wiping her chin, Gina agreed. "I only know how to find water because Jake told you, and you told me. Since I'm going to spend the rest of my life on this moon, I'd like to know more about it."

"That's a good idea." Trudy said. "Some of the others would probably jump at the idea too. I should talk to Jake about it."

"The sun will set soon. Let's get moving."

* * *

Arms and wings burning, Gina grit her teeth, telling herself she could carry Trudy another five minutes. The Tree of Souls was around the next mountain. Avoid that waterfall and...

"Gina! Dive!" Trudy's yell had Gina folding her wings and spiraling down. A massive shadow flit across the water. A desperate race of instinct and obeying Trudy's orders followed. There was no way to out-fly the massive predator, only to outsmart it. They dove between the floating mountains, squeezing between the smallest places, spinning around waterfalls, and slipping barely out of reach of the toruk's giant talons.

Trudy grabbed hold of a dangling vine, and Gina banked hard enough her wing almost popped out of joint. She used the last burst of energy she had and climbed rapidly, then jackknifed down as the toruk passed below. Another hard bank, and Trudy let go of the vine. The toruk roared as it found itself tangled in the trap.

"Go, go, go!" Trudy slapped her arms around Gina's neck again.

Gina rocketed toward the forest, slipping into its shadows before the toruk was untangled. Several harsh turns later, there was a cloud of leaves and vines in front of her. Too late to change course, she snapped her wings shut and burst through them, startling a herd of lemurs and sending a million leaves raining to the forest floor. Abruptly out of energy, she couldn't open her wings. There was a tree rushing to meet them. A really big tree.

Her talons reached out and tried to dig into a branch. They scored deep gouges in the bark and slowed their momentum. Not enough to stop though. Gina twisted at the last moment and took the full impact with her wings and back. It drove the wind from her lungs and Trudy from her arms.

Luckily, Trudy wasn't as exhausted as her. The woman's fingers caught in the gouges, and she was hauling herself up while Gina found her breath.

"Hey, you okay?" Trudy panted out.

Gina groaned and collapsed, her butt thumping on the tree limb. "That was fun."

Chuckling, Trudy turned around to take in their surroundings. "Sure it was."

"Did you see the size of that thing?" Gina was laughing now too.

"Yea, hotshot. I did." Trudy shook her head. "That toruk might have been even bigger than Jake's."

"Was it? I was a little busy trying to keep us from being lunch, didn't get a chance to measure it." Gina retorted.

"I appreciate that." Trudy faced her completely. "You sure you're okay? You're bleeding."

Twisting around, Gina saw she'd lost a bit of skin from her wings and probably her back as well. Slowly, she stretched out her aching limbs, testing them for real damage. "Nothing serious." She looked up at the darkening sky. "We aren't going to make it to the Samson tonight."

Trudy looked up as well. "Yea." And promptly tripped. Gina's hands reached out in time for Trudy to grab onto them. "Maybe I should get out of this tree before I get myself killed."

"No." Gina gripped the small arms. "You wouldn't last an hour down there in the dark. But we should move to another branch." She pointed a few yards away where two branches grew out from the same place. It would be comfortable enough if they sat together. "I think I've got enough left in me to get us over there."

As soon as Trudy latched on, Gina cupped her wings and hopped off. Her muscles complained viciously until her talons took the weight from her upper body. Instead of letting Trudy go, she held on until she had settled into a comfortable position. She saw herself reflected on Trudy's mask, the nocturnal glows of the forest making her already alien face even stranger. "I can't believe I glow now."

Although Gina's arms had dropped away, Trudy hadn't moved. She traced lines on Gina's face. "Why did you do it alone?"

It was now or never. "I was afraid you'd ask me to stay human."

"Wha-"

"I wasn't afraid of you asking the question. I was scared because," Gina couldn't meet Trudy's gaze anymore. Her final words were whispered. "Because I would have done it for you."

The hand stilled and cupped her jaw. "I did not expect _that._"

"Last time I fell in love, it didn't end well. Screwed up a couple of good friendships." Gina muttered. "To be honest, my falling in love has never done anyone any good."

Trudy's thumb stroked a warm line along Gina's chin. "That can't be true. It's making me really happy right now."

Gina lifted her eyes. Tears stung them as she caught sight of the warm love emanating from Trudy. Her hand trembled as it moved to touch the pale one on her face. Trudy moved forward only to pause and curse the mask. She changed course and hugged Gina.

* * *

Trudy woke her up when the sun started to change the sky and waited impatiently while sore muscles were stretched. "I hate wearing this thing. Hurry your purple butt up."

In Gina's arms again, she complained louder about the obstructive mask. It was irritating, amusing, and endearing. At their destination Trudy leapt from her and ran to the Samson. "Come on, get in!"

She readied the bird and when Gina climbed in, she took a deep breath, pulled off the mask, and leaned close. Gina swallowed. Trudy smiled at her. Caution and old memories were thrown to the wind, and Gina pressed their lips together. The difference in size was strange, but not all unpleasant. Kissing her was warm and gentle and made her feel alive. Trudy pulled away and complained about breathing when she had sealed the cockpit.

* * *

The humans left at Hell's Gate, and their blue visitors, gave Gina a funeral and birthday party. Her original form was given a Na'vi burial, complete with a seed and words about the cycle of energy. When the party went a little strange because the humans couldn't eat or drink anything while outside, Jake appeared and congratulated her on her second birth.

"The transition might not always be easy. I'm around if you ever need to talk." He rubbed an ear. "Honestly, I could use company who understands. I love Neytiri, wouldn't give up this life for anything, but," he looked around at the party. "Norm and Trudy kind of understand. But they might never make the same choice. Damn. I came over to make friends, not sound like a confused teenager. Sorry."

"No. Thank you, Jake." Gina reassured him. "I appreciate it. And since you're here, I wanted to talk to you about learning to be a native."

"You beat me to it," complained Trudy. She rubbed at the seal of her mask. "Hey, Jake."

Jake rubbed her head gently, but annoyingly, and Trudy batted his hand away with a growl. "Ass."

"I thought you would've hopped in your avatar by now." He said.

Trudy shrugged. "After lunch. Everyone's going inside in a few minutes."

The women looked at each other awkwardly. Jake raised his eyebrows. Gina's cheeks flushed. Trudy coughed. "Neytiri helped me and Norm put together a lunch for you guys. I'm going to feed this body then come back and eat for my avatar. Ugh. No wonder you both chose one body. This crap is annoying." She stomped off.

"What happened last night?" Jake demanded.

"A toruk tried to eat us. She saved us both." Gina replied.

* * *

"What are we going to do when RDA returns?" It wasn't a question of 'if', but 'when'. Everyone knew it. Yet no one had an answer for it. Norm looked expectantly at Jake.

Busy chewing, he almost choked, and Norm floundered to apologize. Jake used the distraction to delay his answer. He might have avoided it if Trudy hadn't prodded him. A sigh and he set down his lunch. "We're at a definite disadvantage against them. They are a superior force with more advanced weaponry. Unless they forget they have missiles they can launch from space, we're not going to have much of a chance."

"Maybe they'll bring diplomats." Norm said hopefully.

"They know they don't have anything we want." Jake replied.

Quiet passed over the small group. Of the the thirty or so avatar drivers, less than half remained on Pandora.

"That's not quite true." A scientist spoke up. "If the Na'vi are going to allow humans to live here, then those humans will need some things from Earth. We can't manufacture some essential amino acids."

Norm nodded. "He's right. We'll run out eventually."

"Some of the children are very curious about the Sky People." Neytiri added. "They will want to explore the skies and meet them when they are older."

"It could be decades before they return." Alex said.

Gina looked at him. "Or a few months."

"Transports come to Pandora every year. Everyone we booted off the planet has been sitting on their thumbs or in cryo on the space station." Trudy explained. "Quaritch is dead, but he wasn't the only one who can rally the troops."

* * *

Gina perched on the edge of the roof looking down at Hell's Gate. It was almost lifeless without the equipment and soldiers running around like ants. Tomorrow she would begin a modified warrior training with Neytiri, as Jake had. She had promised not to fall for her mentor, getting him to laugh and Neytiri to duck her head. Trudy, Norm, Alex, and a few others would also be getting a new education, each with their own mentors as traditionally done.

There was some arguing, especially over the ikra'vi. No one felt confident in their ability to teach the new species. Neytiri calmed the discussion by saying she would teach the three of them. And her scoun would help.

"Hey." Trudy spilled air from her wings and settled beside Gina.

"Hey." Gina greeted, her eyes returned to the compound.

"Big thoughts?" Trudy asked with a soft smile.

Gina pulled her focus to the present, to Trudy. For the first time, she fully allowed herself to consider how beautiful and attractive she found the woman, whether human or ikra'vi. Every line and curve. The supple muscle and easy laughter. She let herself experience the want, the desire she had to touch her, hold her, kiss her.

"Gina?"

She shifted position and trailed her fingers along Trudy's arm, up to her neck. Her fingertips tugged on the jaw, pulling her closer until Gina could easily close the distance. She looked into Trudy's eyes. "No more thoughts."

"I can live with that." Trudy smiled, and they kissed.

_End_


End file.
